A bill collector of a village panchayat, who was on the run after being sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for taking a bribe of Rs. 200, was arrested by the Lokayukta police after a 12-year pursuit.
H.N. Chandrashekhar, who was working for Horamavu village panchayat, was picked up on Wednesday based on a tip-off from neighbours.
Chandrashekhar was trapped red-handed by a Lokayukta team in September 1994 while accepting a bribe from S. Nataraj, a local resident, for changing the name in land records.
After he was arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chandrashekhar was remanded in judicial custody, but later came out on bail.
The police completed the investigations and filed charge sheet in 1998. The Lokayukta court, which completed the trial in three years, convicted him and sentenced him to six months imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs. 1,000 in 2001.
When Chandrashekhar approached the High Court appealing against his conviction, the court upheld the conviction.
Following the judgment, he went underground. The police tried to track him down by keeping watch on his wife in K.R. Puram, but she also disappeared later.
The Lokayukta police continued the pursuit and succeeded in nabbing him in the city from a different location.
